Shanghai Sees Number of Severe Covid Cases Triple in 24 Hours
Shanghai Sees Number of Severe Covid Cases Triple in 24 Hours
(Bloomberg) -- Shanghai reported a sharp increase in its number of seriously-ill Covid patients, raising concerns that the Chinese financial hub is likely to record more fatalities even as its worst virus outbreak appears to be coming under control.
The number of the patients in severe or critical condition in the city more than tripled to 159 as of Wednesday from just over 50 the previous day, Wu Qianyu, an official with the city’s health commission, said at a briefing Thursday.
The city, currently the epicenter of China’s worst outbreak since Wuhan more than two years ago, also reported eight deaths Wednesday, bringing total fatalities from the current outbreak to 25.
The surge in the number of seriously-ill Covid patients and increase in fatalities came as the outbreak itself appeared to be winding down after weeks of lockdown. New infections have fallen for four consecutive days to 18,495 on Wednesday.
The city’s relatively large elderly population is particularly vulnerable to the virus, as vaccination rates among them remain low. Only 62% of senior residents have been inoculated, said Shanghai government officials. Most of the 25 people who have died were unvaccinated.
With the number of severe cases on the rise, the outbreak could lead to more deaths in Shanghai, likely confirming suspicions raised by experts outside of China that the current outbreak could eventually turned out be deadlier than initially thought due to the vaccination gap and a lack of natural immunity, since the country has largely kept out Covid until now.
In Shanghai, nearly one in five of those infected with the virus are people aged 60 or above, while those aged 80 or above accounted for 2% of the total, according to official data.
Nevertheless, China’s official number of Covid deaths per capita overall remains one of the lowest in the world, a topic that’s the subject of growing debate because it appears to best nations with higher vaccination rates like New Zealand and South Korea.
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With assistance from Bloomberg